Hands up who enjoys “connecting” at Chicago O’Hare International, especially when you have to go over to Terminal 5?
Thought so.
Well, there is some good news as the airside bus transfer between Terminal 1 and 3 to Terminal 5 will resume on the 1st of March.
The central crest of Terminal 5 – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
The bus service will operate daily. It will feature two different routes running every 15 minutes between the hours of 11:30 and 21:30
One Terminal Transfer Bus route will operate between Gate B1 at Terminal 1 and Gate M13 at Terminal 5. The other Terminal Transfer Bus route will operate between Gates G17 and K20 in Terminal 3 and Gate M13 at Terminal 5.
Both bus routes will transport passengers in each direction.
Sadly, if you’re arriving from an international arrival, you will not be able to take advantage of this. International Arrivals will still need to clear customs, collect luggage, drop it off and exit the secure area, then transfer to the ground-side Airport Transit System, to the desired terminal, then be re-screened, rather than rescreening at Terminal 5 and taking advantage of the buses.
Let’s blame… the thing.
The secure airside bus service was suspended in March 2020. Currently, these passengers must exit the secure area, board the Airport Transit System (ATS) to access their connecting terminal and then be re-screened to again access the secure area.
For those on connections (tight or otherwise), can induce stress. The restored bus service will save travellers time and stress, with the added benefit of reducing passenger volumes at all security checkpoints, particularly those at Terminal 5.
In Quotes
CDA Commissioner Jamie L. Rhee said :
<“After having to suspend this service due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Terminal 5 construction, I’m happy to say that we’re again ready to whisk connecting passengers from our core terminals to the newly renovated and expanded T5,”
“I encourage passengers across America to book your next connecting flight through O’Hare — where the world’s best-connected airport is ready to connect you to the world.”
Terminal 5 is different. And busy. And still an island
If you haven’t gone through Terminal 5 in some time, it has changed – a lot. There is more gate capacity, some new dining options and even a Delta Sky Club (since Delta moved to the Terminal).
Combined with Frontier and Southwest using Terminal 5 it is a lot busier than before, with security queues increasing – especially in the evening international departure bank.
However, Terminal 5 remains an island outside the central terminal area at O’Hare. For those requiring public transport connections to the L, you have to backtrack to Terminal 1/2/3 and go through the wonderful-smelling connection corridor to the train. Ubers and Lyfts enjoy taking their time getting to Terminal 5.
As for hotel shuttles? Good luck with that…
Hopefully, if you’re connecting through Chicago O’Hare, this will make life easier for you. But there’s still so much that can be done to improve the passenger experience at this airport.
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Anyone who is arriving internationally at ORD T-5 in the afternoon peak slots needs to have GE for sure. It’s nearly a 3-hour wait for passport control there frequently. As you stated that bus connection doesn’t do any good on international arrives so it puts more stress on the T-1/3 security lines for little reason.
Going to be honest – I’m settling in for the full two-hour experience next month.
The joy of no early morning departure from Heathrow is not making me a happy person at the moment.
I arrived Terminal 5 as a domestic passanger (pre-cleared in Doha) and the bus agent refused to allow me to board to get to my connection in Terminal 1. Any idea if the bus will now allows connections from T5 to the other terminals?
It should be from the 1st March. Of course, what the agent will allow you to do will be up to them…
If I will have a departure from terminal 5, would i be able to go through Security in terminal 1, and then take the bus to get to 5 without needing to re-clear security? Trying to take advantage of the great Polaris lounge before international business flight!
Pass. You can try… but it will depend on security…